Blueberry Crumb Cake

This very easy cake needs to happen in your kitchen asap. It's a moist layer of lemon cake with fresh blueberries and a streusel topping made with oil that is crunchy and so amazing! Both the cake and crumble are made from the same mixture. An easy one-bowl recipe! 

Originally published in February 2018, this post has been updated with images and text to serve you better. The recipe remains the same.

I debated whether to call it crumb cake or coffee cake, because it's a bit of both. It has the crumb layer, obviously, and the dense, sour cream amazingness of a coffee cake, similar to the Apple Crumb Coffee Cake or my personal favorite Pumpkin Coffee Cake recipe. And it's best enjoyed at room temperature, which is key for both types of cake.

A splash of sunshine in the middle of winter or a great summer recipe, this is a moist cake that tastes as good as it looks. Full of crunchy, juicy seasonal blueberries, tangy lemon zest and juice, and a tender crumb that is ridiculously easy to make. 

This cake is made from a crumb mixture that's divided, some for the topping, and the rest mixed with a few other ingredients to make a sort of coffee cake. Well, it's truly amazing.And did I mention it's a one bowl recipe ? For some reason, I find it all very appealing.

Plus, there are some flavors that work year-round and on every occasion. Lemon paired with blueberries is one of them.

Ingredients

This delicious blueberry crumb cake is made from simple ingredients. Here's what you'll need.

• Blueberries: fresh or frozen, they both work perfectly well. But during blueberry season they're usually sweeter.
• Lemon: this recipe uses both lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. Paired with blueberries it's heaven.
• Oil: I like a neutral one like sunflower, but most oils work well, even olive or coconut.
• Sour cream: use full fat for best results.
• Egg: fresh is always best.
• Flour: all-purpose is the one I use most, but it works really well with cake flour also.
• Salt: a pinch elevates the flavors. I like kosher salt.
• Baking powder and baking soda: they are the leaveners in this recipe, they allow the cake to rise when it's baking.
• Sugar: white, granulated sugar is used for the crumble.
• Brown sugar: this is used for the cake and it adds moisture besides that caramel undertone we love.
• Cinnamon and vanilla: they are the flavorings in addition to the lemon. I like pure vanilla extract or paste, and good cinnamon, usually Vietnamese. But any cinnamon and vanilla you love and use works well.

Streusel topping

The crumble or streusel is the star of this cake as it is used for both the cake batter and the crumb topping. What's interesting is that it's made with oil. So it comes together really fast. It is the perfect alternative if you can't eat butter or want a vegan crumb mixture. I might use it from now on for other recipes, that's how good it is.

Mixing it

I use a medium bowl and my hands usually. But a fork, wooden spoon, spatula, or pastry cutter work well if you don't want to get messy hands.

I usually make it with butter for my fruit crumbles, you know, the old-fashioned way, but using oil was a wonderful nice surprise. Might I even say it bakes crisper? I might indeed.

Using melted butter: if you want to go the traditional way because you like a buttery cake, make a streusel topping with it, you most certainly can! Use the same amount of melted butter instead of the oil in the recipe and follow the same instructions.

The cake batter

The steps for making the cake itself are simple: mix the dry ingredients with the oil (image 1). Mix with your hands, a fork or in a food processor until you have a crumble (image 2). Reserve part of this mixture for the topping.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the remaining streusel mix (image 3) and beat until incorporated. I use a hand-held electric beater because it's easier to completely incorporate (image 4). But don't overbeat it. You can also use a whisk or a spatula.

Preparing the pan

Parchment paper: I use a square 8-inch pan and line it with a strip of wax, or parchment paper wide as the pan. This means that the bottom and two sides will be covered. The rest of the sides I use with baking spray. It's the easiest way I know to remove the cake after it's baked since you can lift the whole piece with the help of the paper. Especially if using a pan with non removable bottom. Easy cleanup as a bonus because the cake will not stick to the whole pan. Which is always a good thing, don't you think?

Assembling the cake

Spoon batter into the lined pan (image 5) and then top it with the berries (image 6).

Sprinkle crumb mixture on top so they are almost covered (image 7). As the blueberries bake they release their juices that moisten both the cake and the golden brown topping (image 8).

Easy flavor variations

As with most recipes containing citrus and berries, you can mix and match. My favorites for this cake:

• Lime and strawberry - a favorite combination of this blog since we made the Strawberry Danish Braid, it has freshness and tang at the same time.
• Orange and blackberries - another combo that surprised us when we made the Blackberry Muffin Loaf. It makes for a sweeter cake.
• Lemon and Raspberries - a classic that never fails. The acid in the raspberries is perfect to balance the richness of this crumb cake.
• Plain citrus cake - forgo the berries and make this a lemon cake. Or lime.

Top tips

• Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
• Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes are as accurate as I they can be, but keep in mind that it might take more or sometimes less. You can use an oven thermometer to check that your oven is the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how our oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 
• Flour mixture: this is made up by the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. They are part of the dry ingredients. This mix can be substituted by self-rising flour with good results usually. I say usually because self-rising flour varies from one country and brand to the other and that include the ingredients.
• Mixer: I like to use a medium bowl for the streusel topping, a large bowl for mixing the final cake, and an electric mixer, hand-held. You can use the stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Take into account that this is a small cake and many stand mixers are meant for larger amounts of batter. And you don't need to beat much, simply mix thoroughly, so a large mixer might be too much.
• Blueberry muffins: yes, you can make this blueberry crumb cake recipe into muffins. They will be sort of blueberry coffee cake muffins if you ask me. Gorgeous! The yield would be around 12.
• Serving it: I highly recommend eating it at room temperature to let the flavors shine. But keep it refrigerated if not eating it all at once. I love it as a breakfast cake to be eaten the next morning after it's baked. I find the flavors are better.

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Adapted from an old Bon Appetit magazine